


Talk Me Down

by FlowerHanako



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Character Study, Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Friends, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Hwang Hyunjin & Kim Seungmin are Best Friends, Kim Seungmin-centric, Light Angst, M/M, Roommates, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23642230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlowerHanako/pseuds/FlowerHanako
Summary: Kim Seungmin has lived with his best friend Hyunjin for a few years. He's incredibly content with how their relationship is. That is, until someone else shows up. Some man that Hyunjin met at work, Lee Minho. Hyunjin has had boyfriends before but for some reason Seungmin cannot stand him. What was it about Lee Minho that irked Seungmin so much?ORIt takes Seungmin a long ass time to realize that he may possibly have feelings for his best friend and he needed a Minho to prove that to him.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Talk Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> *Hi there thanks for your interest in this fic! Some notes ~  
> *<<< signals a flashback and the flashback ends with >>> to go to the present.  
> *I've aged the characters up a bit, not much just a few years.  
> *I may or may not add more of the members, haven't decided yet  
> *This is incredibly slow burn and is mostly gonna focus on how much Seungmin does not like Minho at all. Of course there's still hints here and there about his feelings for Hyunjin. As well as a lot of fluff (and a bit of angst) between them. This first chapter just barely introduces Minho but I hope you enjoy some backstory, insight in Seungjin's realtionship and meeting a very important person to the story (Felix).  
> *Once again thank you for your interest! Kudos and comments are very much appreciated, enjoy!

"Pass the remote." "What do you want for dinner?" "I have an itch on my back can you scratch it for me?" Just things best friends who live together would hear. "Seungmin, I met a guy." Was another thing to be heard by Seungmin from his roommate and best friend of years. Seungmin looked up from his phone, not exactly interested in this new guy. His best friend talked about a cute guy he met almost every single day. It made sense though because his best friend was a cute guy himself so the theory of two cute guys liking each other isn't so far-fetched.

"At work?" Seungmin did his best to sound at least a little interested. At the end of the day he wasn't rude and it was also his best friend talking. "Yeah." He responded back. He was in the kitchen just a few feet where Seungmin was on the couch, leaning on the counter; he also had his phone in hand. "You meet a lot of guys at work though." Seungmin said and it was the truth. Seungmin did too, but he never really talked about it. His friend on the other hand loved to, being the tremendous flirt he was. "But this one is different, his name is Minho." Seungmin rolled his eyes like a name could make any person different. "And there's lot's of guys named Minho."

"He's hot, like, hot-hot."

"Hotter than Choi Minho?" Seungmin asked in response.

"Seungmin, there's no need to compare attractive men. They all have their charms."

"Suit yourself." Seungmin went back to scrolling on his phone.

"Why are you so cranky?" His friend walked over to where he was in the kitchen to Seungmin on the couch and plopped down right next to him. Feeling unusually uncomfortable, Seugmin adjusted himself. It was normal for them to be this close, in fact his friend has always been physically clingy with Seungmin. But right now, he just felt annoyed and the close proximity made it even worse. His friend didn't notice Seungmin's uneasiness and continued. "What ever happened with that girl, Ryujin?"

Seungmin went on a date recently, just last week to be exact. He didn't exactly want to go on the date since he wasn't really interested in that kind of stuff but one of his co-workers insisted that he meet the "extremely pretty girl that would be perfect for him." Not wanting to argue with anyone he agreed and they went on a simple date, movie and then ice cream afterwards.

<<<

"This ice cream's pretty good." Ryujin stated after a bite. "I know right?" Seungmin responded, "My roommate and I go here all time."

"Your roommate?"

"Yeah, his name is Hyunjin."

"Sounds like a nice guy." Seungmin nodded his head. "He is."

"You sure do talk about him a lot." Ryujin added with a bit of a snark in her tone. Seungmin blinked his eyes. Repeatedly. A trying to decipher what you just said kind of eye blinking. The one with the blank stare. It was also the first time he was really getting a good look at Ryujin. She sure was pretty. It was the kind of pretty that was nice and simple, a little tomboyish girl next door vibes. She had her black hair cut into a short bob that suited her face quite nicely. Her makeup was minimal and her styling was simple. She was the type of pretty that he could show to his parents and they'd say "She seems like a nice girl." but also send a picture to his friends and they'd go "Oh, but she's cute?"

"What's wrong with that?" Seungmin finally responded. "Nothing, it's just that usually people start talking about the movie afterwards. That has been the first thing you've said to me this entire time and before when we texted you spoke about him as well." She was swirling around the ice cream in her cup, not looking up at Seungmin as she spoke. "I won't lie, it's a bit weird." Weird? What was so weird about him talking about his best friend and roommate of years? "I just want to get to know _you_ better. It feels like I know him more than yourself." She chuckled.

"I'm not that interesting." Seungmin stated. It was his honest opinion, he thought of himself as a pretty boring person. The only interesting thing he guesses was his photography but no one wants to hear him talk about picture taking for hours. Other than that he didn't really have any hobbies and the only other thing he did was work. Hyunjin was so much more interesting and cool. There were days where he lied down and just thought about what it would be like to be Hyunjin. How much more different his life would be, so much more vitality. He guesses that's probably why he talks about him so much.

Ryujin frowned. "I bet you are, you just don't know it yet. You should try talking about yourself more, it isn't as egotistical as you think it is as long as you don't go overboard. Seungmin took a bite of his own ice cream, plain old vanilla with no toppings. Ryujin having chocolate with the most colorful of sprinkles. "And there you go again saying absolutely nothing," She continued, "why even go on this date in the first place?"

"I'm sorry." Seungmin didn't know what else to say, he never does.

Ryujin sighed. "You don't have to apologize. You seem like a nice guy, you should text me when you gain a bit more self esteem, maybe we can even become friends. For now though, I don't think this is gonna work." She started to get up from her chair. "Wait!" Seungmin tried to get her to stop. "It's okay," she responded, "I think we both know this date is over. It was nice meeting you Seungmin."

Seungmin didn't want to start anything. "It was nice meeting you too."

That was how all of Seungmin's dates usually went.

>>>

"We didn't really click." Seungmin answered. Hyunjin got up from the couch to walk back to the kitchen. "You say that after every date. Maybe you just don't click with anyone."

"Except you." Seungmin softly whispered to himself.

"Except me." Hyunjin stated.

* * *

Seungmin woke up in a foggy haze, alarm clock ringing way too early at 7 am. A little grunt escaped from his mouth as he turned to turn off the annoying noise. Seungmin had one job right after he woke up and that was to wake up Hyunjin. He slid his legs off the bed, and sat on the edge staring at nothingness, then made his way to the opposite side of his apartment, Hyunjin's room. His steps were heavy, eyes droopy, and hair a rat's nest. This was the first thing his best friend sees in the morning and it's not a pretty sight.

Seungmin knocked on the door. Once. Twice. Thrice. No answer like usual. He turned the knob.

"Hyunjin come on, wake up. Hyunjin."

No answer. The only sound heard was the sound of Hyunjin's soft breathing, his chest going up and down. Seungmin was always amused by the way he slept, he looked like a superhero. One arm was outstretched in a tight fist like he was ready to takeoff any minute. Just needed a cape. "Hyunjin." Seungmin tried again, a little louder this time. Seungmin didn't even know why he bothered to speak. Hyunjin was the most impossible person on the planet to wake up. It was the reason why Seungmin did it because that man wouldn't even wake up to a shrieking alarm clock. Seungmin wished he could be that at peace when sleeping, any little sound wakes him up.

He walked over to Hyunjin's side of the bed and gave him a tap on the shoulder. "Hey."

Hyunjin breathed in response.

Seungmin repeated that motion with repetitive taps on the shoulder that were more like pushes than anything. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey."

Hyunjin groaned in response but he was still fast asleep.

Seungmin sighed a heavy sigh and climbed on top of his best friend, grabbing him by the shoulders. With all his might he shook Hyunjin. Even with this he didn't wake up and for a split second Seungmin wondered if he should just slap him across the face. It usually wasn't this hard to wake Hyunjin up. He looked back down at his sleeping friend and impulsively wrapped him in a hug. "Wake up." He whispered in his ear. Hyunjin hummed and wrapped his arms around Seungmin, completing the morning wake up hug. Seungmin's eyes opened up in shock, surprised that it actually worked.

"Good morning." Hyunjin whispered sleepily.

"Good morning." Seungmin said, a smile creeping on his face still buried in the hug. He rolled over to sit next to him on the bed and let out a chuckle. "You're so weird." "Why?" Hyunjin asked while rubbing his eyes and letting out a stretch. "I literally shook you the way you shake juice before you drink it and you still didn't wake up." Seungmin said. "That's an interesting analogy." Hyunjin responded with a laugh. "It's the truth."

"What do you want for breakfast?" Hyunjin asked still lying down in bed. Finally, Seungmin got off the bed. "Actually I don't think I'll have time to eat anything."

"You have to eat something."

Seungmin didn't like to argue with anyone. "Fine." He gave in.

"Cool then I'm making eggs and rice." Seungmin chuckled. "Why ask for my opinion then."

"I just like hearing your morning voice."

Seungmin smiled to himself unconsciously. It was a bit silent between them until Hyunjin finally got out of bed. Seungmin took this action to leave Hyunjin's room and get to his morning routine. He still needed to take a shower, by the time he was done Hyunjin would have the breakfast ready for him on their table. Sometimes it pained him how domestic they were, but they just had roles that they fit so perfectly. Hyunjin was a decent cook while Seungmin couldn't even make a milkshake. On the other hand Seungmin was very neat and cleaned very well, Hyunjin would leave their apartment a pigsty if he could. As roommates they worked together amazing and Seungmin was so glad they did, he was so skeptical about them living together in the beginning. But it all worked out in the end.

As Seungmin thought his breakfast was already waiting for him on the table after he showered and got dressed. Hyunjin was already sitting down on the table mixing his rice with his eggs. It seemed as though he was waiting for Seungmin to sit down before he could start eating. He smiled as Seungmin walked over to the chair where his food was placed nicely. "And another day commences." Hyunjin stated. "Yep, another boring day." Seungmin responded.

"Do you really think like that? You don't ever get customers that make your day, either bad or good? What about your co-workers? Come on Seungmin."

Seungmin and Hyunjin both work in the same chicken place, it's how they met actually. They were both newbies and ended up working together a lot, Hyunjin was so incredibly bubbly that it was hard not to become friends with him. Seungmin would've never thought that they would become this close though. He's never been this close to anyone before. With Hyunjin it was just easy.

"Now that I think about it," Hyunjin continued, "You never really tell me about your day."

Hyunjin seemed disheartened by his enlightenment but it was true. Their conversations were very one sided meaning Hyunjin mostly did the talking while Seungmin listened and responded occasionally. It was how Seungmin was with everyone so he never gave it much thought. Plus their friendship seemed to work out quite well with this dynamic. Seungmin just wasn't the type to talk about himself or his day, he didn't want to bore others with such trivialities.

"Then again," Hyunjin continued, "whenever I ask you, you just say that it was alright." He took a bite of his rice and eggs. "I wish you would tell me more about your day." Seungmin didn't say anything to this and changed the topic. "You have dance class today right?" "Yeah." Hyunjin responded. Besides working at the chicken place with Seungmin, Hyunjin also occasionally was a dance instructor. He was incredibly good at dancing and eventually he wants to be a choreographer. Seungmin loves hearing Hyunjin talk about this dream, he's so passionate about it that it motivates Seungmin with his photography.

Seungmin scooped up the last spoon of his rice and eggs and Hyunjin looked at him in shock. "You shouldn't eat so quickly."

"I don't want to be late for work." Seungmin responded. He got up and went to wash his plate. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the dishes. Go to work."

"Thanks, Hyunjin."

"No problem, have a good day at work."

"You too."

* * *

It was just a short train ride in order for Seungmin to get to his job. Before entering he put on his red cap (because his boss would get stingy if he didn't arrive in full uniform) and walked in.

"Seungmin!"

"Good morning Jisung." Seungmin responded.

Jisung was one of his co-workers, he was cheerful and loud. Probably the reason why he worked the front counter. Customers loved him and their boss loved him for that exact reason. He was always going around talking to every customer asking them about their day. It amazed Seungmin how he could just create conversations with strangers like that. "It's a great morning Seungmin!"

"Sure." Seungmin responded. He entered the front counter to go into the kitchen being stopped by a daily Jisung hug. Seungmin didn't mind physical affection, in fact secretly he quite liked it. He would never say that out loud though. Usually workers weren't allowed to have such contact but their boss knew that Jisung _had_ to hug every co-worker that walked in. Sometimes even the customers too, so he let it slide.

Seungmin walked back to clock in, passing the kitchen where he greeted his morning co-workers. There was an unfamiliar face, but he didn't pay much attention to it. His job was always hiring new people so he was quite used to it. After clocking in he checked the board that showed where everyone was working. Seungmin usually works drive-thru but sometimes they switch him around depending on who's working. Like usual his name was under drive-thru, but right next to it was a name in asterisks. A name he didn't recognize.

"Oh Seungmin, good morning."

"Chan, good morning."

It was his head manager.

"I'm training someone?" Seungmin asked staring at the unfamiliar name written next to his on the board.

"Yeah I have him breaking down some boxes, it's his first day."

Seungmin become trainer certified not too long ago. He didn't really want to do it but because he was so good at his job Chan practically made him. This would be his first time training someone. He wondered what the person was like, if they'd be easy to train. If there was anything Seungmin didn't like, it was messing up at his job. For that reason he wanted nothing else but an easy trainee. "Follow me, I'll introduce you to him." Chan stated and Seungmin did just that. He was led over to a young guy probably around Seungmin's age maybe even younger. He couldn't really tell because he had such a baby face. He seemed to be struggling with the boxes he had to break down. "Here, let me show you how to do it easier." Chan stated and took the box from the new worker. Chan slammed his elbow on the crease of the brown cardboard box which immediately opened it. The new worker simply stared at him blankly. Folding the box, Chan continued to break it down until it was completely flat.

"By the way," Chan continued to the newbie, "where's that smile. I don't want to see you frowning."

The newbie did his best to force a smile and Seungmin rolled his eyes at his bosses's antics. "This will be your trainer." Chan pointed to Seungmin.

"Oh, nice to meet you! My name is Felix!" The newbie greeted incredibly nervous.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Seungmin."

"Great," Chan started, "Now get back to work. I expect to see great results with Seungmin as your trainer."

"I'll do my best." Felix responded.

"Good." Chan said and went back to his office.

The silence between Seungmin and his trainee was usual for Seungmin, he wasn't the best with conversations and this boy is so nervous that he most likely won't say much. He did his best to try to break the ice. "Don't worry about him, he's like that but he means well." Seungmin stated about their manager. Felix simply nodded his head and Seungmin realized that this might be difficult. He hoped that at least Felix was good at following directions. If he was quiet but followed directions then maybe it wouldn't be as hard to train him. "Here I'll help you break down these boxes so we can hurry and get the lemonade done." Seungmin took one of the boxes and began to break it down. Felix simply watched and then afterwards began to do the same to his box with much ease then he had earlier. He seemed to be a quick learner, just a bit slow and observant like he had to absorb things before he could do them. Seungmin could work with that. "Nice." Seungmin made sure to compliment him. Felix broke into a little smile and Seungmin was starting to learn things about him slowly.

"Let me show you where to find everything to make the lemonade."

"Lemonade?" Felix asked.

"Yeah," Seungmin responded, "We make fresh lemonade here."

Felix followed right behind Seungmin like a little chick following his mother. As they walked around the kitchen Felix looked around everywhere, watching everyone work and checking out all the different things. He seemed genuinely interested. Seungmin grabbed the juicer and other equipment that was needed to make the lemonade. Felix quietly watched and followed as they went back to one of the kitchen counters and Seungmin placed the equipment. "It's easy," Seungmin stated, "just take a lemon and squeeze it into the machine. Don't worry it doesn't hurt. If you have cuts you might want to use gloves or else it'll sting." Seungmin started to juice the lemons. "If you put two buckets of lemons on each side of you then you can grab a lemon with each hand and juice alternatively." Seungmin showed Felix by grabbing one lemon in each hand and alternating his hands to the juicer. Felix didn't say anything but watched intensely. Seungmin continued, "Soon you'll find a good pace and you just keep doing it until you run out of lemons. Try it." He stepped away from the juicer.

Seungmin thought that Felix would be hesitant to start the new task but much to his surprise the newbie did the same exact thing that Seungmin did, just a bit slower. Seungmin quietly nodded as he watched Felix juice the remaining lemons. "How's it going?" He heard Chan's voice coming towards them. Without letting them respond he walked over to Felix, picked up one of the lemons he just juiced. "You see this? There's still so much juice left. You have to really squeeze the lemon so that juicer can get all the juice." Chan took that lemon and juiced the remaining. "Make sure you're doing that Felix." He stated. Seungmin couldn't help but wonder who was the trainer here. Felix began to continue juicing but he was obviously nervous, he kept messing up and because of that went slower to focus himself.

"You have to be faster." Chan said.

Felix tried his best to be fast but because of the speed he kept messing up.

Chan sighed. "Jisung how about your trainee and Seungmin's switch tasks for today." Jisung turned around a bit surprised by the sudden request. "Sure." He replied. "You'll be making coleslaw then." Chan told Felix and then once again left to his office.

"The life of a trainer huh Seungmin?" Jisung laughed. "By the way, this is Jeongin. It's his third day here." Jisung put his shoulders the boy on the boy next to him. He looked young but he was tall, about Seungmin's height. "Nice to meet you." He said meekly. "I'm Felix." The boy next to Seungmin introduced himself before he could. "And I'm Seungmin. Nice to meet you too."

"Felix!" Jisung said in exclamation. "I don't think I've hugged you yet?"

"Huh?" Felix questioned.

"Come here!"

Jisung opened his arms wide and enveloped Felix in an extremely tight hug, Felix laughing and hugging back. Jisung then grabbed Felix's hands and began to dance with him as he sang a random song. Felix went along with Jisung's usual tomfoolery and laughed, the two just randomly dancing in the kitchen. "Seungmin, come here." Jisung let one of Felix's hand go and grabbed Seungmin's. Seungmin already knew not to decline Jisung's antics. "Yeah!." Jisung yelled and began to sing even louder. He then let both their hands go and pushed Jeongin closer to them so they could all dance in a little circle. Seungmin wished he could say that this kind of thing was unusual, but it wasn't. It was simply just Jisung's personality. The newbies though, obviously new to Jisung seemed to love it, laughing and dancing to their hearts content like they weren't even at work.

They didn't stop until their dance leader stopped after realization that yes that they were indeed at work and had actual work to do. Felix seemed a lot more relaxed and happy after that encounter so Seungmin couldn't help but to be grateful for Jisung's vivacious personality. The rest of the day training Felix went rather easy, he was a quick learner. Even drive thru which was the most complicated he seemed to do pretty well on. He even went head on when Seungmin suddenly told him to put on the headset and take orders. Seungmin couldn't help but to be surprised by Felix's ambition seeing that he seemed so nervous and shy. When it got to it though Felix always did whatever he was asked with confidence. It was a note that he made sure to put in his training book as his strength.

"You are a quick learner and do things without asking twice, but you could work on your speed and actually don't be afraid to ask questions."

Felix nodded his head, staring at the book in the middle of the table across from them. Every trainee had a book that each trainer had to write their strengths and weaknesses at the end of a shift. It was almost time for them to go so he had to go over it with Felix. "Overall you did well considering it was your first day. Drive thru is the most complicated but you handled it with tenacity. Good job." Felix broke into a bright smile. Seungmin made sure to compliment Felix whenever he could since it seemed he worked the hardest after a good compliment. If he needed to tell him he did something wrong he made sure to tell him that the mistake was okay and then showed him how to do it correctly. Felix seemed to be a hard worker and thankfully was an easy person to train. "You can clock out now, I'll go hand this to Chan." Seungmin stated picking up the book from the table. "Thank you Seungmin, you were a great trainer."

To this, Seungmin simply nodded while they both got up to go to the same place. Chan's office was near the back of the kitchen right before what they called "the hole". It was simply a small place where when things get busy in drive thru they open up as another window. It was also where the lockers where stored for employees to put away their stuff and clock in or out. Felix kept walking towards "the hole" while Seungmin stopped in front of Chan's office and knocked on the door. Chan opened the door and let Seungmin in who closed it.

"How'd it go?" Chan asked after the door was closed.

"Great." Seungmin replied. He handed Chan Felix's booklet.

"Good, I'm glad."

The room become oddly silent.

"You can clock out now, good work."

Once again Seungmin just nodded as he turned the knob of the small office to leave. To his surprise Felix was still in "the hole" gathering his stuff. Seungmin didn't say anything to him but went to the machine to clock out, it seemed like Felix wanted to say something as he was fiddling with his backpack but he didn't. All he said was "Bye." as he strapped on his backpack and left. "Great job today!" He heard Jisung say to him while Felix gave a hearty thanks. Seungmin opened his locker to grab his bag and keys. He took out his phone and texted Hyunjin that he'd be there soon. He then left while saying bye to his fellow employees. Jisung made sure to give him a big hug before he left and his trainee Jeongin gave him a meek bye. Before he opened the doors to leave he heard the door to the restrooms open, it was Felix. They didn't say anything, just small smiles as Seungmin opened the door for him. "Thanks."

It turned out they were going the same way, to the same train station. Seungmin didn't mind walking together in silence but it seemed to pain Felix. "Um, thanks for everything." He started.

"You don't need to thank me again."

"I mean it. I was really nervous today."

Seungmin didn't say anything, he was so bad with small talk. "How old are you by the way?" Felix asked.

"24." Seungmin replied.

"Oh we're the same age."

"Let's speak comfortably from now on then." Seungmin responded.

Felix nodded his head.

* * *

After a long day at work Seungmin was so glad to finally be at home. To see Hyunjin was all he wanted at this moment in time, but he was surprised at who he actually saw when he finally opened the door. It was Hyunjin but there was someone else. A man, just a bit shorter than him. He had brown hair, most likely dyed. His outfit looked like he stepped off the production set of the musical "Grease". He was attractive though that's for sure, all his features looked as if they were crafted by a sculptor. Especially his nose which looked like a ski slope. 

"Oh, this is my roommate, Seungmin." Hyunjin told the man and Seungmin was a bit disappointed that he was getting introduced first considering the fact that he lives here and all. If anyone needed to be introduced it would be the random man in the middle of his apartment. 

"This is Minho."

Ah. So this is _the_ Minho.


End file.
